More. More!
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Mostly, my usual post-trip reflection question. What worked, what didn’t, what would you bring (or leave behind), retrofit or replace?
I have learned a lot from folk’s after-action gear and boat reflections, and adapted what works for me with thanks.
Happy to oblige!
Drove up through Millinocket and headed out toward Baxter on what I believe is called Baxter Road. The Golden Road comes very close to Baxter Road in a couple
of places and we took the second or third cut through.
The Golden Road was in excellent shape and they were doing a little grading in spots as we drove toward Allagash Gateway Campground (which was shuttling our vehicle to Graveyard Point at Chesuncook Village for $225). After dropping spare keys at AGC for the shuttle, we drove up to Caribou Checkpoint and went in to pay our fees. $160 in round figures for five days/4 nights for 2 out-of-staters.
From Caribou it is another 15 or so miles on the Golden Road to Poulin Road, which was in pretty good shape. Poulin eventually joins Lobster Trip Rd and crosses Lobster Stream to the boat launch.
Arrived about 1:45 at the launch, loaded up my 16 foot cedar strip canoe and off we went. We did a bit better taking less gear this year and doing a much better job packing the gear low in the canoe. Still, a bigger canoe would be better for 2 guys and all our gear but not many or any outfitters around there. AGC would have rented us a 17 footer but mine was a little wider so we went with it.
The paddle down Lobster Stream was uneventful as was the paddle across Lobster Lake to Ogden North (last year there were significant waves). As we paddled, we saw a canoe at Ogden Cove. We arrived at Ogden North about 3:30 or 4 and quickly set up camp.
I cooked dinner (dry rub steaks over my newish Purcell Trench Grill), peas and carrots and salad. Great dinner. Post dinner cleanup was in the dark with headlamps but not too difficult. Made a post dinner fire and turned in probably around 10 pm.
Tuesday morning breakfast was fried eggs and corned beef hash done on the stove. Post breakfast, we shot the breeze.
We ate an early lunch (turkey/ham/roast beef/cheese/lettuce rolled in soft tortillas) and then we set out on our grand tour of Lobster Lake.
Last year, we only made it to Jackson Cove and hiked up Lobster Mountain. This year we paddled all the way down Little Claw, through the shallows and around the bottom of the large island that divides Little Claw from Big Claw. As we were crossing the shallows, a float plane passed low overhead and disappeared down towards the bottom of Big Claw. When we got into Big Claw, we could see the plane had landed and was at the end of the lake at the aptly named Big Claw campsite, so we paddled down to it. The pilot was sitting on the beach, alone. No canoe or gear. We paddled within a few yards and said hello. He wasn’t too talkative so we turned and headed back up Big Claw. A few minutes later, the plane took off again. Not sure what that was all about.
We followed the shore of the island back up Big Claw. We had heard there was a beach somewhere on the island with a trail that leads to a stand of old growth trees. Eventually we found a spit of land, really a mound of pebbles only a few yards wide with a few trees, that looked like the spot. We paddled around the spit to get into the lee and put ashore. A few minutes searching revealed a trail marked with blue paint blazes. A sign announced this was the “Caron Trail.” We hiked the trail for maybe half a mile but neither of us had hiking boots with us so we were eventually forced to turn back before reaching the old growth stand. Next time.
We continued up Big Claw, hugging the island. There are several buildings, which appear to include a ranger cabin and maybe some private camps/cabins on the eastern shore of Big Claw just past the top of the island.
Returning to Ogden North we had effectively paddled the entire lake. I cooked dinner. Salmon steaks with lemon/butter sauce, asparagus and rice pilaf. Delicious! We enjoyed another post dinner fire and a little lite rain. We had rigged a tarp over the picnic table so we were protected. And I was enjoying my new REI Flexlite Macro Chair (along with underquilt). Can’t say enough good things about that chair! Packs down decently small, lite and plenty comfortable for my 200 plus pounds. Slouchable/napable. The wind really began to pick up around 10 pm so we hit the hay.
Wednesday morning was was super windy and the lake was angry. I made breakfast of pancakes and sausage. The wind kept up all day with intermittent rain, sometimes heavy, so it was a day for sitting under the tarp, reading and chewing the fat.
Wednesday dinner was spaghetti with meat sauce (homemade by my partner’s wife) plus reflector oven yeast bread from scratch based on a recipe i found in a book. dang easiest bread recipe ever. 2 cups all purpose flower, 1 cup bread flower, 2 teaspoons sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 package instant yeast and a cup to a cup and a quarter of hot water. Mix it all together into a sticky mess and let rise for an hour or more. Dump onto a greased pan and cook. No kneading. No shaping. Looked like hell but tasted like fresh-baked heaven! Should have halved that recipe for two though.
It rained and blew pretty hard all Wednesday night. Thursday morning was calm at dawn but a wind started to pick up. We had a simple breakfast of instant oatmeal and coffee (coffee was had at every breakfast; my buddy brought packets of Folgers in what looked to be tea bags. Pour boiling water over and let steep). We quickly broke camp. Based on wind and wave action, we paddled almost straight east from Ogden North until we were in the lee of the opposite shore and then turned north looking for Lobster Stream. On the way out, we passed a gorgeous cabin, marked private property, with a commanding view of the mountains surrounding the western and southern shores of the lake. Would love to own that place!
We eventually found Lobster Stream. The wind was right in our faces as we padded up, but this was an advantage since the moose never saw or smelled us coming. See pictures and videos above.
We proceeded down down the West Branch, stopping at Thoreau's island for lunch. Ultimately we paddled down to Big Ragamuff and made camp for the night. We saw 2-3 fishing canoes pass us, presumably on their way to the fishing spots down by Big Island.
Dinner Thursday nite was dry rub steaks (again) over the Purcell Trench Grill, more rice pilaf and peas and carrots. In short, almost the same as first night. There was abundant firewood to be had at Big Ragamuff, so we kept the blaze going for quite a while and watched the full moon rise for quite some time.
Friday morning I made a big breakfast omelet of eggs, sausage, green peppers and onions. We packed up and paddled down to Big Island where my partner did his best to land a salmon while I held us steady in the current but no luck. We paddled to the right side of Big Island. But I picked a bad line too much in the middle and ended up in shallow water. We had to walk the canoe back closer to the shore of Big Island to get deep enough to continue.
That was our only oopsie of the trip. I was paranoid about the Class II-III rapids exposed by last year’s low water conditions but, as I said in my first post, we saw nothing but riffles and a few exposed rocks this year.
We stopped at Pine Stream for lunch. Last year there was a 20-30 foot vertical of exposed rock. This year maybe 8 feet vertical. What a difference.
We we finished up at Graveyard Point where AGC had shuttled our vehicle. The road out of Chesuncook Village (Village Road) was in excellent shape and was a straight shot down to the Golden Road. Altogether, 50 miles on Village Road and the Golden Road back to where it meets the paved Baxter Rd
So, that’s it! Best gear on this trip: my canoe, my home-built cooler, the Purcell Trench Grill and my new REI Flexlite
Macro chair with detachable underquilt. I won’t go anywhere without that chair ever again! Also, 12 x 20 Opsak odor proof bags. Several for fresh food and one for trash. Work as advertised. No smells.
Brought too much lunch meat (my partner’s wife picked that up and she has a heavy hand). Too much spaghetti sauce (her again). And I made too much bread. Food was otherwise about right. Dry rub steaks were amazing cooked over a fire on the Purcell trench grill —tasted as good as a high end steakhouse (factoring in the everything taste’s at least 20% better when cooked/eaten outside).
